Sermon and Worship Resources

Antonyms: keep, claim, continue, stick by, self-control, power through, achieve, defend, bear, hope, acquire, quick visit, adopt, continue along, adhere, remain, pursue, support, take up, keep up, reuse, advocate, stay, persevere, cherish, keep going, carry on

Showing 301 to 325 of 4946 results

301. The Great Divide

Luke 16:19-31

Sermon

Some of us are old enough to remember the old Cat Stevens' tune, "Father And Son." That song, as you might recall, is in the form of a dialogue. The father speaks first and tries to share with his son some of the wisdom he's gained from his years of living. He says that it's not yet time to make a change, relax, and take it easy. Perhaps the son ought to look for a wife. The son, in the next verse, responds that his father is more interested in talking than listening. Dad then replies with his same message ...

302. What Are Your Chances of Going to Heaven

John 14:6

Sermon

James Merritt

U. S. News and World Report did a poll recently of one thousand respondents, and they asked this question: "Who do you think is ‘very likely' or ‘somewhat likely' to go to heaven?" They asked this question about thirteen prominent figures. You will be fascinated by the results. Of all of the celebrities, the biggest vote-getter was Mother Teresa at 79%. Who came in second? Oprah Winfrey at 66%. Third place went to Michael Jordan at 65%. Fourth place went to Colin Powell at 61%. Princess Diana scored an ...

303. Go ... Be the Church ... Do the Gospel

Sermon

The hearers’ level of expectation is especially high on given occasions, such as a congregational anniversary. The dangers for the sermon are many; the victories few. Through the skillful interweaving of congregational history, the Church’s history, biblical history, the history of persons, and a knowledge and sensitivity of worship - always with the hearers in mind - this sermon forges a victory for the hearers. The sermon focuses the hearers where the focus is to be - on the Lord of the Church and the ...

304. Forgive Us

Luke 11:1-13

Sermon

I'm ashamed to say that too often I behave like the guy laying in bed with his family refusing to get up to give loaves of bread to his friend. I wish it were otherwise, but the truth is the truth. And where better to tell the truth but in church? My life, much of the time, is all tucked in nice and warm. My doors are bolted shut. My children are sound asleep. The worries and cares of the day are well behind me. Each of my children has already been up for the obligatory glass of water and trip to the ...

305. Going Ahead Anyway

Matthew 2:1-12, Matthew 2:13-18

Sermon

William B. Kincaid, III

Did you notice that bad things did not stop happening through the holidays? And is any warning necessary that bad things will happen in every season of this year? Surely there is better news than that, but we ought to be honest about the bad news. Not even the holidays generate enough good will to stop people from blowing up airplanes and destroying people's reputations and abusing children and selling drugs to teenagers and gunning down their neighbors. In fact, the holidays often elevate stress levels. ...

306. Are You Going Down?

Luke 2:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan

Many years ago there was a serious coal mining accident in the Allegheny mountains. Many miners escaped, but three men were trapped somewhere deep in the earth. No one knew if they were alive or dead. As the hours passed, intense heat and noxious gases built up within the mine itself. Two days passed before a search expedition was allowed to enter the mine. The camera teams from the local news station interviewed the three-man rescue team as they prepared to enter what could be their grave. A reporter ...

307. The Wise Men: Going Home Another Way

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

There is a story told about two men sitting together on an airplane. As some are wont to do, when strapped together 30,000 feet above where they ought to be, they begin to get acquainted. One man was an astronomer, the other a theologian. After a while, each began to share his understanding of the other’s discipline. The astronomer said, “I believe that all religion can be summed up in the phrase, “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” The theologian, somewhat miffed at this simplistic ...

308. Therefore Go

Matthew 28:16-20

Sermon

King Duncan & Angela Akers

If you’ve ever worked as a team, then you know there are certain behaviors and attitudes that increase productivity, and just as many behaviors and attitudes that decrease it too. Good managers, good coaches, good leaders know how to correct unproductive behaviors and improve the performance of their whole team. But what if your aim is to make your team less productive? Some of you might be muttering to yourself, “I’ve worked with folks like that before.” During World War II, the U.S. Office of Strategic ...

309. Holy Friendship

John 6:60-71

Sermon

Donald Macleod

After this many of his disciples drew back and no longer went about with him. Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also wish to go away?" Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life; and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God." John 6:66-69 (RSV) Jesus said to the twelve, "Will you also go away?" Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life." It is easy to think of Jesus' life as being ...

310. When We Get Where We’re Going, Where Will We Be? (Series: Real Faith for Real People)

2 Timothy 3:10--4:8

Sermon

J. Howard Olds

It was the middle of the summer. We loaded our family in an old station wagon, the one with wood paneling down the side, and headed to Florida for a vacation. About ten miles into the trip, we heard the chant that all parents hear when they take children on vacation. “Are we there yet?” “How much longer?” “If you keep asking we will never get there.” You know, normal family conversation. Then about 50 miles into the trip, our 10 year-old son, Wes, posed a question I can never forget. “Dad, when we get to ...

311. God Keeps His Promises!

Galatians 3:19

Children's Sermon

Object: A contract, a marriage license, a certificate of ordination, baptismal certificate, etc. Well, good morning to you, boys and girls. Isn’t it great that vacation is over and school will soon be back in session! Pretty soon you’ll be back with friends whom you haven’t seen all summer. Do you remember all of the things that you were going to do that you didn’t get done? Maybe you promised your friends that you would call them, or maybe even write them a letter. Promises are really something. Let me ...

312. Finish What You Start

Luke 14:25-33

Sermon

I remember as I was growing up, before gas became more precious than gold, that our family would go on buggy rides, as we called them, on Sunday afternoons after church and dinner. It was a great time for the entire family to be together, to wander back roads aimlessly, and to talk about just about anything you could imagine. Most of the time my dad would surprise us but sometimes he would ask us where we wanted to go. One place I always asked my dad to drive to was the park in town. One reason was that I ...

313. Going Down to Look Up

2 Kings 5:1-27

Sermon

Curtis Lewis

Our story opens with Naaman, the military Chief of Staff of the Aramean army. Naaman is a very great man who has received the favor of the King of Aram, Syria, because of his victory over Israel. Anytime Israel lost a battle or a war, the disaster was felt to be the hand of God at work. In the theology of ancient Israel, no foreign army could be victorious over Israel unless it was God's will. As we read this story in 2 Kings 5, we come to the conclusion that Israel's defeat is in accordance with the will ...

314. It's Time to Go to Work

Matthew 25:14-30

Sermon

James Merritt

Do you ever get tired? If the answer is yes, you may have a good reason for it as the following story illustrates: Somewhere in the world there is a country with a population of 220 million. 84 million are over 60 years of age, which leaves 136 million to do the work. People under 20 years of age total 95 million, which leaves 41 million to do the work. There are 22 million employed by the government, which leaves 19 million to do the work. Four million are in the Armed Forces, which leaves 15 million to ...

315. Lord To Whom Shall We Go?

John 6:56-69

Sermon

David Coffin

Despite his best efforts at teaching, feeding, and healing, today Jesus is rejected. However, he is still our Lord. This is good news for us today. A pastor was about to attend a book fair in a neighboring county and was getting ready to leave the church office. It was early after lunch on a summer afternoon. A young man in his late twenties and his little one- year-old daughter suddenly walked into the pastor’s office, and crashed down in the chair in front of the pastor’s desk. The young man was ...

316. Loud and Clear

Luke 8:14-15

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

Object: Radio, cowbell, gun with caps, some pots and pans, and any other object that makes noise Isn't this a great day today and isn't it fun to be in God's house, learning the things that God wants us to learn? Sure it is. Now today, we are going to have an experiment. How many of you like experiments? Good. First, I'll need a volunteer. Oh, you'll be fine. You have a nice voice. Do you think that if everyone was very quiet you could say something that the last person in the church could understand? You ...

317. Listening to God's Warnings

Luke 16:27-28

Children's Sermon

Wesley T. Runk

Object: Some kind of a warning device like a whistle or if possible a siren or maybe simply a poison sign on a bottle or can Boys and girls, if you heard a siren screaming at you from behind what would you do? That’s right, you’d get out of the way! If you were crossing the street where you shouldn’t and somebody blew a whistle so that you could hear it a mile away, what would you do? If you took this bottle down off the shelf and you saw this sign of a skull and crossbones, what would you do? I know what ...

318. The Problem With Keeping All The Rules

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

King Duncan

Photographer Wendy Ewald travels around the world teaching children to use photography to express their thoughts and feelings. Take a child who is relatively powerless and give him a camera, and suddenly that child is empowered by the chance to express himself. Ewald recalls a little Indian boy named Pratap. When Ewald handed him a camera, Pratap began to shake all over. He explained that he was a Harijan, a member of the lowest, untouchable caste in India. Harijans aren't allowed to hold cameras. Pratap ...

319. Keep on Praying

Luke 18:1-8

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

Anyone here this morning trying to housebreak a new puppy? If you've ever tried to housebreak a new puppy, you know that the key to success is consistency. You must always take the puppy out the moment it wakes. You must never let it whine and look like it needs to go without whisking the little creature outside. And if you let the puppy get away with any indoor accidents, you can bet that it will return to the scene of the crime for a repeat version of its indiscretion. The same absolute consistency is ...

320. Keep Climbing

John 17:1-11

Illustration

Billy D. Strayhorn

A Canadian by the name of Ashleigh Brilliant draws cartoons to go with pithy sayings called "Pot Shots." There is one I really like. Two people with walking sticks in hand are climbing a mountain in knee-deep snow. The caption reads: "Keep Climbing Upwards! You may never reach the top, but it's definitely in that direction." We have to continue to work toward unity and understanding - between each other, between the races, between cultures and between denominations. We may never reach it, but by working ...

321. The Unwanted Christmas Gift: The Gift That Keeps on Giving

Luke 1:26-38

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

“Survivor” is a reality tv game show that has proven to be one of the most successful franchises in television history. Starting in 1992 as the brainchild of a British tv producer, Survivor has spread throughout the world to play in over 50 countries as diverse as Chile and China. If you’ve watched CBS’ “Survivor” with its $1,000,000 prize, you notice how quickly the sixteen to twenty strangers separate out into two groups, no matter how many “tribes” there are. In one group are those who, in the face of ...

322. Be Sure of Your Course and Keep on Going

Illustration

Editor James S. Hewett

The setting was a cold January morning in a little town in Wisconsin, on the southern shore of Lake Superior. It happened to be the Saturday when they had their annual dog sled derby on the ice. A one-mile course had been staked out by sticking little fir trees in the ice. The whole course was easily visible because of the steep slope of the shore. It was a youngsters' meet and the contenders ranged all the way from large boys with several dogs and big sleds to one little fellow who didn't seem over five ...

323. Going and Doing

Matthew 25:31-46

Sermon

Steve Molin

Today is the end of the church year. The school year ends in June, and the calendar year ends on December 31, but the church year ends always on a Sunday in late November, and the new church year begins with the season of Advent. Next week, I’ll begin a sermon series called START HERE; appropriate for a new year, with a blank canvas standing before us. But as we today focus on the Reign of Christ, it also seemed like a good time to give you a prologue of where it all started. That’s what the START HERE ...

324. When Saints Go Marching Forth

1 Samuel 15:1-35

Sermon

Arthur H. Kolsti

Sometimes when reading you come across words that just leap off the page and grab you. Here is a comment by C.S. Lewis I encountered in his book, Reflections On The Psalms. If the Divine call does not make us better, it will make us much worse. Of all bad people, religious bad people are the worst. Of all created beings the wickedest are those who originally stood in the presence of God. Let these words hover over our thoughts this morning. They are not comfortable words, for they remind us of some dark ...

325. If We Had Known You Were Going To Win . . .

Acts 10:34-43

Sermon

King Duncan

A gentleman wrote into The Christian Herald magazine. In their family, he said, it was a custom to have a sing-along while traveling by car. It helped keep their boys out of trouble and in a good mood. On one trip their eldest son, Aaron, asked if they could sing the “Gravy Song.” “What’s that?” The rest of the family asked. “Teach it to us.” With all innocence Aaron began singing the Easter hymn, “Up from the gravy arose.” (1) It’s sad that the only day of the year when churches sing the gravy song is ...

Showing results